THE end is in sight for villagers in Chiddingfold who have watched as the music club that launched the careers of rockers such as Eric Clapton was bulldozed.

The building site in Woodside Road is nearing completion, with the former working men’s club – which in its heyday was one of Surrey’s largest music venues, hosting sell-out performances by the likes of Clapton and Genesis – being rebuilt for public use.

The building is taking shape as a new community hall, available for local groups and businesses to use for meetings, and offering a social space for nearby residents.

The site is also offering much-needed affordable housing, with four homes on the plot of nine built in partnership with the English Rural Housing Association.

Run by Woking-based developers William Lacey, the building work is now nearing completion, and it is hoped the development will open in the summer.

Planning permission was granted by Waverley Borough Council in 2008, but a series of starts and stops, including the outbreak of recession, provoked concerns that the project may never get off the ground.

Work finally got started last year, and since then the pace has picked up with the new club taking shape quickly.

When completed, it will offer a space which can be divided into two, with separate bars for each.

The plan is for the kitchen area to be run every day, offering meals for those living in the neighbouring houses, while keeping staffing costs to a minimum.

Chairman of the club committee, Jerry Coombes, said that the most obvious concern of people living nearby would be noise, but that the new club would not offer the same kind of concerts as during its previous history.

“This is going to be a fantastic thing for the village,” he said. “There won’t be loud concerts like before, but there might be the odd performer here and there.

“I live opposite the site and I want something to do in the evenings. I feel very positive about this, and I want it to be a big success.”

He added that during the week the club would have the feel of a pub, selling beers and drinks at reasonable prices.

“With all the pubs and clubs closing down at the moment, it would be a good thing for the area to have somewhere opening that can fill the hole,” he said.

The new venue will hold around 100 people, much fewer than its predecessor which could house more than 300.

At the time that permission for the build was granted, public support was overwhelming as the Chiddingfold Club has been out of use and boarded up. Of 174 homes notified about the plans, 128 of them wrote to voice their approval.